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LAS VEGAS — Owners of the Hard Rock Cafe restaurant chain are suing owners of the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas over its name, saying the casino's party image has damaged the moniker enough to justify ending a 14-year-old licensing agreement.

Lawyers for Orlando-based Hard Rock Cafe International Inc. said in the lawsuit filed Tuesday in federal court in New York that the cable reality show "Rehab: Party at the Hard Rock Hotel" on truTV casts its brand in a bad light.

The 110-page lawsuit including exhibits says the show portrays the hotel-casino as a place that "revels in drunken debauchery, acts of vandalism, sexual harassment, violence, criminality and a host of other behavior" that most people would find offensive, including patrons of Hard Rock restaurants.

A spokeswoman for the hotel did not immediately return a message Thursday from The Associated Press.

The hotel is owned by Morgans Hotel Group Co., a company that is entirely separate from the cafe chain.

Hard Rock Cafe agreed to let the hotel use its name, but now wants to rescind the deal.

If the restaurant chain wins its lawsuit, the hotel-casino would be forced to change its name and brand, which have been central to its strategy of marketing to music lovers and others who know the Hard Rock name.

The cafe owners said in the lawsuit that the casino's pool parties, which are also titled "Rehab," have been associated with criminal activity, damaging the Hard Rock name.

Las Vegas police arrested eight people at the pool in 2009, accusing them of distributing drugs or offering sex for money. The bust was part of a larger enforcement focus on pool parties in Las Vegas. Hotel officials said at the time that they complied with authorities.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

50 years of
Danke Schoen

Fifty years ago, a young Wayne Newton played his first gig in Las Vegas. Now, he tells the story of his iconic career over the ensuing half-century in a new show called “Once Before I Go.” Playing Tuesdays through Saturdays at the Tropicana, the show features a full orchestra, video clips and reminiscences from the man rightfully called “Mr. Las Vegas.” Show tickets are $88 and $110, with VIP packages, including a meet and greet session and photo op, available for $165, plus service fees.
(Ethan Miller / Getty Images for Tropicana)
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City on the Strip

If you build it, will they come? As the largest privately developed project in U.S. history, the new CityCenter complex on the Strip is part destination resort, part urban enclave -- and a major roll of the dice for its owners, MGM Mirage and Dubai World. Its size and style -- four hotels, two residential towers and a 500,000-square-foot "retail district," all designed by world-class architects -- are like nothing else in Vegas and may serve as a sign of the next step in the city's evolution.
(Ethan Miller / Getty Images for CityCenter)
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Elvis avec acrobats

What do you get when you combine Elvis Presley with acrobatics, elaborate costuming and state-of-the-art special effects? Why, Sin City's seventh production put on by those fun-loving fabulists at Cirque du Soleil.
Viva ELVIS opens on Dec. 18, and will play several nights a week in a specially built theater at the Aria Resort & Casino at CityCenter. Tickets are $87–$149 for preview performances (through Jan. 28) and $99–$175 thereafter, plus service fees.
(Brian Jones / Las Vegas News Bureau via AP)
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Up, up and (hopefully not) away

Looking for a new perspective on the Strip? If so, then climb aboard the new Cloud Nine Balloon, which offers tethered balloon rides to a height of 500 feet above the ground. Eleven stories high, the balloon carries up to 30 people in a circular gondola and provides a 15-minute panoramic “flight” before being winched back to earth. Daytime rides are $22.50 for adults and $17.50 for children ages 5–12; evening rides are $27.50 and $17.50. Children 4 and younger fly free.
(Cloud9vegas)
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Plush planet

Apparently, CityCenter didn’t use up all the window glass on the planet: just across the Strip, the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino will open its own skyscraping hotel in early 2010. Managed by Westgate Resorts, the 52-storyPH Towers will feature 1,200 timeshare units along with a health club, meeting facilities and a tropical pool complex with its own sandy beach. As a vacation-ownership resort, it will also offer easy access to the dining, gaming and entertainment facilities at Planet Hollywood.
(PR Newswire)
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Ruck and roll

If you can tell a grubber kick from a checkside punt, you’ll probably want to be at Sam Boyd Stadium at UNLV February 13–14 when the USA Sevens Rugby Tournament makes its Las Vegas debut. Part of the IRB Sevens World Series — and the only U.S. stop — the event brings together professional teams from 16 nations, along with thousands of rabid fans, for a two-day round-robin of mauling and mayhem. (The players have been known to get a bit rough, too.) One-day tickets are $35–$250, plus service fees.
(Todd Warshaw / Getty Images)
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From Music City
to Sin City

Alas, it took all of five hours for Garth Brooks’ un-retirement concert series at Wynn Las Vegas to sell out, but country music fans can still get their boot-scootin’ boogie on this winter. This month, Trace Adkins plays The Pearl at the Palms Casino Resort on Dec. 9; three days later, Randy Travis takes the stage at Monte Carlo. Then, on Feb. 6, George Strait (aka “The King of Country”) and Reba McEntire (aka “The Queen of Country”) will hold court at the Grand Garden Arena at MGM Grand, with Lee Ann Womack opening.
(Tami Chappell / Reuters)
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Downtown
goes upscale

As seen in this artists rendering, a longtime landmark in downtown Las Vegas, the Golden Nugget is in the middle of a $300 million renovation that promises to add new luster to Glitter Gulch. In November, the hotel opened Rush Tower, a 25-story addition with 500 rooms and suites, several shops and a Chart House restaurant anchored by a 50,000-gallon tropical aquarium. A new pool will connect to The Tank, the hotel’s existing pool complex where a three-story water slide shoots through a 200,000-gallon shark tank. Midwinter rates start at $69.
(AP)
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Making an impression

You’ll probably never see Jay Leno, John Madden and presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush share a stage, so comedian/impressionist Frank Caliendo may be the next best thing. One month into a 10-year run at Monte Carlo, the "MADtv" and "Fox NFL Sunday" vet skewers all of the above, along with DeNiro, Pacino and dozens of other boldfaced names, four nights a week in the resort’s Lance Burton Theater. Tickets are $48–$81, plus service fees.
(Ethan Miller / Getty Images)
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Exclusive enclave

Hotel32 sits right on the Strip, but you’d never find it unless you knew where to look. That’s because it occupies the 32nd floor of the Monte Carlo resort, a hotel within a hotel for those who want a VIP experience at a reasonable price. Ranging from studios to two-bedroom penthouses, accommodations include roundtrip limousine service to and from McCarran Airport, private check in, butler services and complimentary breakfasts and evening snacks in an exclusive lounge. Special rates start at $170 per night.
(Ogara Bissell Photography)
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Take the leap

Leave it to the folks at the Stratosphere Hotel & Casino to find yet another way for adrenaline junkies to scare themselves silly. Already famous for its sky-high thrill rides, the resort is adding a new one called a Sky Jump that essentially lets guests throw themselves off the 108th floor — fortunately, while being attached to a harness/cable system that stops them before they hit the deck 107 stories below. The ride is modeled after one in Auckland, N.Z., but alas, you’ll have to wait to take the plunge since the Vegas version won’t open until April.
(Ethan Miller / Getty Images)
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He writes the songs

Who? Barry Manilow, of course, who will end his current show at the Las Vegas Hilton on Dec. 30 and open a two-year run at Paris Las Vegas on March 5. While the former show was billed as a collection of his greatest hits, the new gig is expected to highlight classic love songs, many of which will appear on his next album, “The Greatest Love Songs of All Time,” which is set to drop Jan. 26. Shows are Friday–Sunday; tickets are $95–$299, plus service charge.
(Paris Las Vegas via AP)
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